SOLIDARITY WITH ATLANTICA ARRESTEES:
There were 21 people arrested at the recent action against 'Atlantica' last June 15th. There has been a considerable debate on the Maritimes Indymedia site about the tactic of "refusing identity" to the police, though there has been no debate on the wisdom of engaging the police in theatrical battles. The Halifax Coalition Against Poverty has undertaken the defense of the 21 arrested people and they are calling for financial donations. Money may be sent to :
Halifax Coalition Against Poverty
ACC (Anti-Capitalist Coalition)
2420 Agricola St.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
B3K 4C2
Molly has to call a time out here. Once more she has to emphasize the "real meaning: of "direct action", the favoured tactic of anarchists. It does NOT mean the most militant action possible with NO chance of success. Those who think that way are Maoists hiding under the camoflauge of anarchism. What "direct action" means is the self directed action of communities to solve their problems "directly" without the intervention of "sympathetic" politicians. Organizing a co-op is direct action. With all the limitations involved with subculturism, 'Food Not Bombs' is direct action. A work to rule strike is direct action insofar as it is aimed at weakening managerial rule. Squatting is direct action. Self reduction movements in public transit are direct action. Setting up an Infoshop is direct action.Travelling across many miles to try and beat police who are much better than you are just to show off is not direct action. It would become such only if there was a reasonable expectation of actually disrupting the event you protest. There hasn't been such an expectation for almost ten years. Whether it is 50 people as in the case of Atlantica or 2,000 people in Europe at the G8 this is a forelorn hope. It hasn't happened ever since Seattle and it will never again. Quite frankly the police are smarter than their opponents and they are not hamstrung by ideological nonsense. They do what is effective. Thus they win- every time.
Molly is not opposed to contributing to the defense of the people arrested during the Atlantica protest. All that she says is that anarchists should look towards their "strengths" as they have become something of a "hegemonic idea" amongst the left today rather than clinging to an outmoded way of acting that only exposes weakness (50 people,50 people,50 people..drawn from half a continent...dummy up your head). Most larger cities in North America have far more anarchists and sympathizers(ie much more than 50) who could be drawn into much more constructive projects.
Yes, Molly knows that abandoning the romance of pretending that you are a match for well trained and well disciplined police substracts from the "appeal" of anarchism. Yet this romance is obviously built on a lie, and its supporters can only uphold it by increasingly shrill appeals to a diminishing number of people willing to be cannon fodder (50 people,50 people,50 people). Does the appeal of modern anarchism depend upon such a lie ? If it does it does not deserve to exist. Molly can only hope that at least a large proportion of modern anarchists in North America can see the difference between the fads and the underlying ideas. If they do they will abandon useless tactics and make their contributions to the constructive side of anarchism. Beyond this the "street fighting" tactic means that you have abandoned the "moral high ground", something that is critically important if you see your actions as "political" rather than "existential" as in proving yourself or influencing only a tiny little segment of the population thag you perform in front of. Yeah, I've read the bullshit supposedly justifying much more serious actions than street riots,and as an outsider to the cult my only regret is that I can't sink myself into the cultish mind enough to condemn it in its own language.
